The present invention relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly to a method and system for logging debugging information for a communication connection.
Telephones and other communication devices for exchanging electrical communications of audio information through public switch telephone networks (PSTN) have existed for a substantial time and are well understood. Recently, however, telephones have been created that exchange electrical communications of audio information through packet switched networks of the type which computers use to communicate with each other. These telephones use a digitized format that is broken down into discrete Internet Protocol (IP) or other message units to represent audible sound. These message units are sent and received through the packet switched network.
Unfortunately, exchanging electrical communications of audio information through a packet switched network presents a variety of problems. For example, when a stream of audible sounds such as a long sentence is broken into several message units and sent through the packet switched network some of the message units may not traverse the packet switched network at the same rate. Thus, the audible sounds represented by a first message unit could be transformed into audible sounds at a receiving telephone before the next message unit is received resulting in a gap in the audible sounds that is at least irritating if not unintelligible to the user. Errors in the packet transmission may also result in echo, scratchy audio, dropped calls, delay, and jitter.
Methods of notifying a repair staff through user reporting systems are ineffective in that they do not promptly notify the repair personnel or the users are unable to convey the relevant information, such as the time of the problem or the specific audio problem the user was encountering. Furthermore, often critical information is completely unavailable to the user, such as the packet loss rate, network congestion, specific devices through which calls are being routed, and other highly technical and transparent (to the user) information.
Previous attempts to solve these problems included allowing a user to initiate a one-second recording of a call by depressing a certain series of buttons on the telephone keypad. This functionality was not completely effective in that the particular second of audio recorded may not have been the segment of audio in which the user was experiencing a problem.
The present invention provides a method and a system for logging debugging information for communication connections that substantially eliminate or reduce the disadvantages and problems associated with previous systems and methods. In particular, the present invention provides a method and system for end-user initiation of event logging during or after a problematic connection to facilitate debugging and/or correction of the problem during or after the connection.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a method and system for logging debugging information for a communication connection comprises receiving a user initiated signal indicating a problem with a communication connection. In response to at least the user initiated signal, a type of debugging information not previously logged for the communication connection is logged for the communication connection.
More specifically, in accordance with a particular embodiment of the present invention, the debugging information comprises information about the user initiated signal. In another embodiment, the debugging information may comprise drop packet or other information about the communication connection. The debugging information may be retrieved from a communication device forming part of the communication connection. The communication device may be a user communication device such as a phone or a network element such as a conference bridge.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a work file may be automatically opened for the communication connection in response to the user initiated signal. The debugging information logged for the communication connection is associated with the work file. The user may be automatically contacted to obtain additional information about the problem with the connection. In this embodiment, a response from the user is automatically associated with the work file.
Technical advantages of the present invention include providing an improved method and system for logging debugging information for communication connections. In a particular embodiment, end-users initiate logging activity during or after a problematic connection to facilitate debugging and/or error correction. Logging activity may be initiated by the user directly from a phone or communication device by pushing a button or other suitable command. As a result, the reporting rate of problems, including minor ones that the user may not ordinarily report but would be important to engineers is increased. This aids in identifying network and other problems occurring with one phone or one type of phone over the network. In addition, the efficiency of the trouble-shooting engines and debugging operations are improved by the identification and/or, detailed logging information on the calls that are actually problematic.
Another technical advantage of one or more embodiments of the present invention includes providing user initiated event logging for problematic connections. In particular, full and accurate information is recorded for problematic calls based on user input, which allows fast and efficient error correction. In addition, the need to log detailed information for each call is eliminated as detailed logging can be dynamically generated for problematic calls. This improves the quality of the system as a whole as resources are directed away from event logging when no error is present.
Still another technical advantage of one or more embodiments of the present invention includes providing user initiated identification of the problematic calls. In particular, user initiated log entries are included within logging information maintained for all calls. This assists the technicians analyzing detailed log reports in identifying and focusing on problems occurring within the system. In addition, a case for the service department may be automatically opened and an e-mail automatically sent to the user requesting details of the problem. This also allows automatic recording of audio for a call to preserve an audio track for engineers to study in determining the problem and the solution.
Yet another technical advantage of one or more embodiments of the present invention include providing user initiated dynamic correction for problematic calls. In particular, the user can identify an ongoing call as experiencing problems to the system to allow introduction of new components into the audio stream such as filters and buffer resources to improve call quality. Thus, in progress calls can be fixed and system resources only used as needed.
Other technical advantages of the present invention will be apparent to one skilled in the art from the following figures, description, and claims.